Twenty Twenty
by Fairady
Summary: In retrospect, he'd been completely obvious.


Disclaimer: Own not and make no money off of this.

Warnings: None.

Notes: Challenge, long ago. I was asked to write something Squall/Quistis which was surprisingly a new concept for me.

20/20  
by Fairady

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In retrospect, Quistis should've known something was up when Squall offered to hear her report over dinner.

She'd known him for most of their lives, she _knew_ that Squall was- Well, calling him single minded wasn't far from the mark, but also not quite right. Focused. Yes, that was it. Squall was _focused_. He liked to focus on one thing at a time in order to make sure it got all the attention that was needed. When he listened to reports that was all he did, and when he ate a meal -no matter how quickly it was eaten- that was all he did. Squall did not like to mix things up.

So, listening to her report while eating should have raised at least some flag in Quistis' mind. The fact that it didn't was something she blamed entirely on the fact that, due to a resupply issue, the Garden kitchen staff had to dig into the emergency rations for every meal. For a month straight. Nothing kills an appetite quicker than mystery meat made with twenty year-old boxed rats. The prospect of real food after all those weeks had drawn her attention away from the first sign that something was going on.

The food itself had made her miss the second more obvious sign.

"You look nice," Squall said looking up briefly from his steak.

That comment itself should have made red alarms sound in her head. A platter filled with Trabian crab legs was no real excuse for missing the seemingly innocuous compliment. Three little words that, when said by most people, were nothing more than a polite observation, but took on an entirely different meaning when said by Squall.

Squall's compliments had always been very understated. A second year cadet manages to save her class and downed Instructor from a T-Rex with nothing more than a standard issue revolver and handful of spells? "You might make a good SeeD." A SeeD cell manages to infiltrate the camp of a group of terrorists renown for being secretive and hard to find, free a trio of hostages, escape with their lives and the hostage's intact, _and _bring back copies of every plan the terrorists had? "Good."

Understatements. Squall lived by them, and she _knew_ that. She still took his compliment of her looks as nothing more than polite nonsense. The fact that he hadn't even once asked her to begin her report didn't occur to her either. Her senses were filled with the richness of crab and butter, and nothing penetrated through her sheer joy at having edible food.

No, it wasn't until after the very pleasant dinner that the proverbial hammer dropped right onto her head.

Squall stood up from the table and offered his hand to her, "Would you like to dance?"

Squall did not dance. SeeD training to approach a target in any situation aside, dancing just was not on the list of things that Squall enjoyed doing. It also did not fit in with any definition of working dinner Quistis knew.

Quistis automatically accepted Squall's hand and let him lead her onto the section of floor cleared for dancers. He had, of course, timed it perfectly so that the next waltz started just as they stepped into place. It was a familiar song, and Quistis had no trouble keeping up despite how fast her mind was whirling with surprise.

Everything she'd missed or ignored before was adding up. Dinner, at a very nice restaurant that just happened to be her favorite. _Flirting_, because that earlier compliment couldn't be mistaken as anything else now. Dancing, something Squall avoided even if it meant he spent hours on the run during celebrations. It was a classic set up.

In retrospect, it was completely obvious. She was on a date with Squall. Quistis felt a bemused smile curl her lips up as the music continued, "Squall?"

"Yes?" Squall spun them through a series of steps with practiced ease. His face a mask of concentration as he did his best to keep time with the music and keep track of the other dancers.

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"...yes."

"Alright," Quistis relaxed and let herself spin away before twirling back. She smiled, just a touch wryly, saying, "For future reference, I'd appreciate it if you told me from the start."

Squall finally smiled back. It was a small and real smile that she hadn't seen in years, and was one of the reasons she'd always tried so hard to make him open up, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Also, don't ever take advice from Irvine again."

"Trust me," _this_ smile was one she wasn't really familiar with and turned his mouth crooked, "I only followed half of what he told me."

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End file.
